Tag Archives: Danish Sea Captain

Guess how much the Danish Sea Captain went for?

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Remember the big .44 Colt Model 1847 Walker I wrote about a few weeks back? The one that earned its moniker due to its first owner, Capt. Niels Hanson, who bought the gun in New York while in port and brought it back to Europe with him where it was passed down through his family and collectors in Denmark for over a century?

The Cap’n

Well-documented over the years, the revolver was billed by Rock Island Auction Company as the only known original cased Colt civilian Walker percussion revolver in circulation. When the gavel dropped on the rare hog leg, it hit the $1.84 million mark last week– a world record for a single firearm sold at auction.

More in my column at Guns.com

Meet The ‘Captain

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In their upcoming April Premier event, Rock Island Auction is set to offer a trio of desirable Colt wheel guns including a “Fluck” Dragoon, a military-marked Eli Whitney Walker and a civilian model fit for a Scandinavian skipper.

The rarest of the three, the only known original cased civilian Walker in circulation, is referred to by collectors as the “Danish Sea Captain” due to its first owner, Captain Niels Hanson, who purchased the massive gun in New York while in port and brought it back to Europe with him where it was passed down through his family and collectors in Denmark for over a century.

The ‘Captain. (Photos: RIA)

The ‘Captain. (Photos: RIA)

According to lore, the gun even survived being buried in a garden by its then-owner during the Nazi occupation of that Baltic country during WWII.

The estimated price for this rare .44-caliber bird, which has been extensively documented over the past 80 years? How about somewhere between $800,000 and $1.3 million.

More on the big Dane and the other Colts in my column at Guns.com.